If he will take off his mask I shall know better what I intend to do with him.' The stranger had lost his hat in his fall, and his fair hair, stained with dust, hung in curls on his shoulders.

He was a tall man, of a slender, handsome presence, and, though his dress was plain and almost rough, I espied a splendid jewel on his hand, and fancied that I detected other signs of high quality.

He still lay against the bank in a half-swooning condition, and seemed unconscious of my scrutiny.
'Should I know him if he unmasked ?' I said suddenly, a new idea in my head.
'You would,' M.de Cocheforet answered.
'And ?' 'It would be bad for everyone.' 'Ho! ho!' I replied softly, looking hard first at my old prisoner, and then at my new one.

'Then--what do you wish me to do ?' 'Leave him here!' M.de Cocheforet answered, his face flushed, the pulse in his cheek beating.
I had known him for a man of perfect honour before, and trusted him.

But this evident earnest anxiety on behalf of his friend touched me not a little.